Field Notes

So, what do the leaders of a pair of 10-1 teams talk about before clashing in one of the most important match-ups of the season? Hunting, of course.

From Yahoo! Sports, reporting on the Dallas Cowboy’s 37-27 victory over the Green Bay Packers:

There was the Romo-Favre storyline, which got rolling when they smiled and laughed through a chat on the field about 1 1/2 hours before kickoff. What did they say?

"Exchanging recipes and stuff," Romo said. "Guy talk. I don't know. We just talked about hunting or something. . . .”

A battle is brewing over federal wilderness protection for the largest freshwater spring in North America.

From the Environment News Service:

The Missouri Wilderness Coalition, an informal network of 18 conservation groups, says Big Spring area and six other areas of the[Mark Twain] national forest totalling [sic.] 49,323 acres need new protections that only Congress can provide, because they are now being targeted for logging and roadbuilding by the U.S. Forest Service. . . .

This week the coalition ran into trouble when U.S. Representatives Jo Ann Emerson and Roy Blunt, both Missouri Republicans, announced their joint opposition to the wilderness protection proposal.

Be sure to check out the full story.

Bobby Knight's famously fiery temper seems to have publicly flared again, but not on the basketball court. This time it was in a Lubbock, Texas, dove hunting field. According to this Dallas Morning News story, the Texas Tech men's basketball coach and NCAA all-time wins leader stands accused of accidentally shooting a local woman in the foot, raining birdshot into homeowner James Simpson's swimming pool, then spraying pellets into the man's neck and back after Simpson complained Knight was hunting too close to his house.

"Coach Knight did not shoot over there. He did not intentionally shoot at him. It's such a frivolous accusation with no merit," said Knight's hunting partner Bubba Curtis.

Indeed, there appears to be no hard evidence to support the shooting accusations, but the video Simpson taped during his confrontation with the coach certainly seems to paint Knight in a less that chivalrous light.

Check it out for yourself (here's the video), then tell us your reaction.

Check out this incredible story, from KTVX ABC 4 in Salt Lake City.

From an Associated Press story in The New York Times:

A white hunter convicted of killing a Hmong man as they both stalked squirrels in the woods was sentenced Wednesday to 69 years in prison.

''The community needs as much protection as it can possibly get,'' Miron said. ''The best we can do is make sure you can never do harm again.''

Be sure to check out the full story.

From The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal:

Two months after opening its Lubbock store, Gander Mountain is having a hard time keeping the pink 9 mm Taurus pistol on the shelves. . . .

"There are a lot of women who don't get into shooting sports because they don't want to be perceived as being unfeminine," [director of Texas’ Becoming an Outdoors Woman program] Ashley Mathews said. "If it helps young women or girls eliminate their hesitation to get involved in shooting sports, then that's a wonderful thing."

What to you think?